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15TH Ed. Cover of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Unveiled!

This evening in Portland, Ore. the cover design for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban15thanniversary edition was unveiled. Sorry, did that strong wave of nostalgia hurt at all?

Slate has given us an exclusive first look at the cover revealed at Leaky Con and designed by cartoonist and author Kazu Kibuishi.

Kibuishi, most recognizable for his best-selling graphic novel series Amulet, believes that it was his background in writing that made him a strong contender for the design gig.

He said “At first I was really surprised that I was even asked to try out. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense for someone like me, an author for middle-grade readers, to introduce my readers to Harry Potter. That would be the next step in the progression for their reading comprehension,” reports Slate.

All the covers for the paperback editions of the Harry Potter series were designed by Kibuishi. The new editions will be released in September. The writer and designer said that the cover for the third novel came most naturally.

“I knew exactly the moment that I had to depict. I felt it was the most important moment in the entire series,” he said.“When you look at the cover, you don’t know who’s in the foreground and who’s in the background. A lot of people already know, but I think a new reader will look at this and not feel that it was a spoiler. They would wonder what was going on.”

He refused to make any changes to the original Harry Potter logo created by David Saylor. Saylor was the designer of the first Scholastic copies of the books.